Colloid mill



Sept. 29, 1942. F. A. SULLIVAN COLLOID MILL Filed March 18, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l c jy. 3.

- fiwm? fla Hiya/7 ATTORNEYS Sept. 29, 1942.

Filed March 18, 1940 F; A. SULLIVAN COLLOID MILL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 29, 1942 UNITED STATE 5 PATENT OFFICE" 2 Claims.

My invention relates broadly to grinding apparatus and more particularly to new and useful improvements in colloid mills.

An important object of my invention is the provision of a colloid mill that is adapted to operate on synthetic pigment colors, dye stuffs, gums, fatty acids, cellulose acetate, and the like, and that is particularly adapted to disperse materials in the nature of the pitchy or fibrous red or blue pigments.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a colloid mill that is uniquely constructed so that speed is a relatively unimportant factor but wherein the extremely fine dispersion of the materials operated on is efficiently and efiicaciously accomplished.

Still another object of my invention is the provision of a colloid mill wherein the cooperating faces of the stator and rotor are uniquely constructed'to retard the fiow of the materials operated upon in order that there may be ground for a longer time therebetween, and wherein a unique means is provided in advance of the rotor to create a pressure adapted to force the said materials through the mill.

Yet another object of my invention is the provision of a colloid millwherein the retarding action eifected by the rotor and stator will result in an extremely fine comminution of the materials forced therebetween, and wherein the construction of the mill is simple in a manner to -promote the inexpensive manufacture of the same.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying my invention,

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 2,

Figure 5 is an end elevation of the rotor embodying a part of my invention,

Figure 6 is a side elevation of the rotor, and

Figure '7 is an end elevation of the stator embodying a part of my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral l0 designates a suitable base having the spaced vertically disposed pillow-blocks ll, I2 and I3 secured thereto by means of the bolts l4. The shaft 15 is journaled for rotation on the pillowblocks l2 and I3 and securely held thereon by the removable cap members [6 and H. The portion l8 of the shaft, extending between the pillow-blocks l2 and I3, is enlarged to prevent axial displacement of the shaft relative to the blocks, which portion is formed with a plurality of annular grooves adapted to receive an endless belt (not shown). about any desired drive means suited to impart rotation to the shaft. I

The cupular housing I9 is formed with an internal chamber 20 and an axially extending shank 2|, which shank is supported by the pillowblock I I and is formed with a longitudinally extending groove 23 adapted. to slidably receive the set screw 24 threadedly carried by the cap member 25.

The pillow-block l2 and cap member l6 are formed with recesses 26 in the side 21 thereof, which recesses receive the-end 28 of the tubular sleeve 29. The sleeve is disposed concentrically about the shaft 15 and the end 30 thereof is externally screw-threaded and received within the internal bore 3| which extends through the shank of the housing IS. The collar 32 is fixedly secured to the sleeve 29 and is disposed inabutting relation with the side 33 of the pillow-block and cap II and 25.

The end 34 of the shaft [5 extends beyond the end 30 of the sleeve 29 and into the chamber 20 of the housing, being supported concentrically therein by means of the roller bearing 35. The extremity of the shaft is reduced to define an annular shoulder 39 and the reduced portion is formed with a longitudinally extending key 36 which is slidably received within the key way 31 of the rotor 38. The rotor is maintained against independent rotation relative to the shaft by the key way and in abutting relation with the shoulder 39 by the mixer or butterfly nut 40.

The rotor 38 is of substantially frusto-conical formation in side elevation and the outer face thereof is in the form of superposed frusto-c nical sections 4|, 42 and 43. As clearly illustrated in Figure 6. each of the sections 4|, 42 and 43 are progressively smaller so that the base of each of the sections is of the same diameter as the truncated vertex of the preceding section, and the outer face of each of the sections is contiguous with the outer face of the adjacent sections. Experience teaches that the slope of each of the sections 4|, 42 and 43 should be approximately The belt may be trained gear 13.

sections for reasons ,to be later described in detaiL.

The chamber 20 of the housing 9 opens through the outer side 45 thereof and the stator 46 is received therein and with the central cavity 41. receiving the rotor 38. The side wall of the cavity is shaped in the form of superposed frustoconical sections 48, 49, and 5 0 which sections have an angular relation or slope with the axis of the stator in a. manner to coincide with the sections 4|, 42 and 43 of the rotor. The sections 48, 49 and 50 of the stator are similarly formed with a plurality of annularly spaced semi-circular grooves 66 which open toward the vertices of the sections. The innermost section 50 of the stator opens into an inner cylindrical mixing chamber 5|, which chamber receives the mixing nut 40 mounted for rotation on the end of the shaft IS.

The cover plate 52 is adapted to close the open side of the housing l9 and is retained in position by the longitudinally extending externally screwthreaded shanks 53 which extend longitudinally of the casing and through aligning openings in the cover to receive the wing nuts 54. The stator 46 is provided with a pair of diametrically opposed screw-threaded recesses in the outer end 55 thereof. The bolts 56 extend through registering openings in the cover and screw-threadedly engage within the recesses to fixedly maintain the stator in fixed engagement with the inner face of the plate.

The passage 51 communicates with the mixing chamber 5| of the stator and with the internally screw-threaded bore 58 in the plate. The end 59 of the elbow 60 is screw-threadedly received in the bore 58 and the end 6| thereof opens upwardly to receive the tubular stem 62 of the substantially funnel-shaped hopper 63. The portion of the chamber 20 of the housing rearwardly of the rotor opens exteriorly of the housing through the segmental discharge slot 64 and the trough 65 is positioned below the slot in a manner to receive any materials discharged therefrom and to conduct such materials to a suitable receptacle or container (not shown).

The supporting bracket 61 is mounted on the base In intermediate the pillow-blocks II and 2 and is formed with a pair of spaced upstanding lugs 68 and 69. The hand wheel 10 is formed with a shank 1| which extends through aligning openings in the lugs 68 and 69. The worm I2 is fixedly carried by the portion of the shank H intermediate the lugs 68 and 69 and in a manner to engage with the peripheral teeth of the worm The hub portion 14 of the worm gear is provided with a radial screw-threaded bore adapted to receive the set screw 15 the inner end of which screw is received by an aligning opening in the tubular sleeve 29. The grease fitting I6 is carried by the sleeve 29 whereby a suitable lubricating material may be introduced into the sleeve to lubricate the moving parts.

The operation of my device is as follows:

The device is particularly adapted to comminute extremely hard, fibrous or pitchy substances and, in the practice of the invention, it is my desire to develop an apparatus adapted to promote the extremely fine comminution of the material being worked upon rather than the de-' velopment of a device adapted to force the material to be pulverized between the rotor and stator at a high rate of speed.

Experience teaches that with the advance of chemistry and the manufacture of synthetic pigment colors, dye stufl', etc., that high speed apparatus is inadequate for satisfactorily dispersing the particles of certain of these substances, and particularly the pitchy red and blue pigments, to a fine microscopic size.

The horizontal positioning of the rotor and the stator and the manner in which the hopper is disposed thereabove permits the material to'be fed by gravity from the hopper 63 into the mixing chamber 5| of the stator. However, by horizontally positioning the rotor and'stator, the gravity feed from the hopper will not be sufllciently great to force the material, which is preferably in liquid suspension form, through the interstice between the rotor and stator at any substantial rate of speed. The provision of the grooves 44 and 66 further retards the material passing through the interstice from the chamber 5| and effects turning or repositioning of the material as it passes from the grooves and between the confronting grinding surfaces of the rotor and stator. The unique shape of the angularly related working faces of the rotor and stator also materially aid in retarding the flow of material from the mixing chamber.

Tests have disclosed that it may take as many as several thousands of revolutions of the rotor to pulverize certain of the harder dyes and chemicals and it is for this reason that I have developed a device that is particularly adapted to retard the flow of these materials from the mixing chamber. The grooves in the working faces of the stator and rotor and the angular relation of the working faces to the axes of the stator and rotor all cooperate in retarding portions of the materials worked upon thereby causing the particles of the material to be continuously ground and reground for a considerable length of time.

When the shaft I5 is rotated, the rotor 38 will be caused to rotate in a direct ratio therewith and the interstice between the operating faces of the rotor and stator may be finely regulated by the hand wheel 10. When the hand wheel is rotated, the worm 12 will effect the rotation of the sleeve 29 by means of the worm gear 13. By virtue of the keyed engagement of the housing |9 with the pillow-block II, the housing will be held against rotation, whereby rotation of the sleeve 29 will move the threaded end 30 thereof axially within the bore 3|. It may thus be seen that by rotating the hand wheel in one direction the housing and stator may be made to move in the direction of the rotor, and that by rotating the hand wheel in the opposite direction, the housing and stator may be made to move axially in a direction away from the rotor.

The material from the hopper is preferably introduced into the mixing chamber 5| in a liquid suspension form and the butterfly nut 40 will thoroughly agitate the material within the chamber and combine a large quantity of air therewith to substantially increase its bulk. The increase in the bulk of the material within the mixing chamber will cause the discharge from the hopper to be greatly retarded, and the material is consequently maintained within the mixing chamber for a considerable time and until the pressure and heat created is sufiicient to force the materials through the interstice be tween the stator and rotor. The material thus forced into the interstice will first traverse the smallest working faces 43 and 50 of the rotor *nd stator and the grooves 44 and 66 therein which are preferably approximately of an inch deep and approximately 3 5 of an inch wide, will receive a portion of the material and turn and twist the same before it is again movedbetween the grinding surfaces of the'stator and rotor. The heat and expansion of the material within the mixing chamber will force a certain amount of the material beyond the'first working face 43 of the rotor and into the portion of the interstice between the working faces 42 and 49 of the rotor and stator, respectively. By virtue of the greater angular relation of this face of the rotor and stator with the axes thereof the fibrous materials will be forced to change their shape or be retained between the first operating faces where they will be operated upon until further comminution has taken place. After the materials have been sufficiently ground to permit the same to traverse the second operating faces 42 and 49 of the rotor and stator they will again be forced to change their shape by virtue of the diminished angle of the last operating faces 4| and 48 of the rotor and stator.

It is obvious that the materials will be substantially retarded as they traverse each operating face of the rotor and stator by virtue of the grooves 44 and B6. The degree of heat maintained in the mixing chamber by the expansion of the substances therein caused by the agitation thereof by the nut 40 will force the materials through the interstice between the rotor and stator and into the chamber 20 rearwardly of the rotor where it may be discharged through the opening 64 and onto the trough 65-.

It may thus be seen that I have produced an apparatus which is essentially slow in operation but which is extremely efficacious to finely subdivide the material operated upon, and that the device is particularly adapted to operate upon such chemical compounds as are hard, fibrous or pitchy in their nature.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the size, shape and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention, or scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, a support having a rotary shaft journaled thereon, an elongated tubular member supported concentrically about the intermediate portion of the shaft, a rotor removably secured on one end of the shaft, a stator having a cavity engaging the rotor, a housing carrying the said stator having an extension slidably mounted on the support, the said extension engaging the tubular member so as to effect axial movement of the housing and stator upon rotation of the tubular member, and means for holding the said extension against rotation.

2. In apparatus of the character described, a support structure, an elongated rotary shaft journaled on the said support, an elongated tubular member disposed concentrically about the intermediate portion of the shaft and rotatably supported on the support structure, one end of the said tubular member being externally screw threaded, a rotor detachably mounted on one end of the shaft, a stator having a cavity adapted to receive the rotor therein, a housing carrying the said stator having a tubular projection fitted on and threadedly engaging the threaded end portion of the tubular member, means for holding the said tubular projection of the housing against rotation, and means for turning the said tubular member for axially adjusting the stator with reference to the rotor.

A. SULL VAN. 

